


A Moment Like This

by hauntedpapyrus



Series: Raphael Santiago's Wacky Adventures in Dating [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Asking for permission to date, Asking out on dates, Fluff, M/M, Raphael just wants Luke's permission to date Simon, Simon's been allowed back into DuMort, everything is cool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 08:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6899344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hauntedpapyrus/pseuds/hauntedpapyrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raphael Santiago was raised to be a man of morals and tradition. He realizes it's not 1953 anymore, but he just really wants Luke to give him permission to date Simon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Moment Like This

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sadlyamundane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sadlyamundane/gifts).



> This is a gift to my darling new friend, Sadlyamundane. Shaz, I hope this was worth waiting for my lazy ass to find motivation to write. 
> 
> Thanks for all the headcanons and support! <3

Raphael Santiago’s mama had raised her sons to respectful. It was her voice in the back of his head that had made him call Luke in the first place. Admittedly, he shouldn’t have asked to meet in an old cemetery without an explanation. Luke, understandably, was skeptical about the meeting. Raphael had no idea how to explain it over the phone, it had to be done in person. He had said the one thing he knew would make Luke come no matter how sketchy the situation seemed. _It’s about Simon._ He had given Luke no further explanation, and the werewolf hadn’t asked for any.

In Raphael’s defense, it was about Simon. The past few months had seemed to always be about Simon. Which was why Raphael found himself waiting for Luke to show up and trying to distract himself by picking at a loose string on his sleeve. He was picking up too many habits from Simon. Raphael used to be able to stand around for hours. Now he was pulling on string and wondering if he could get Simon to mend it. His fledgling had taken up sewing in an attempt to fix Raphael’s jackets. He found that Simon did a decent job and would mend any of the clan’s clothes. Raphael barely registered the sound of someone walking behind him. He turned to meet Luke, receiving a raised eyebrow as he extended his hand.

“Formalities? Something bad must’ve happened for you to shake a _dog’s_ hand.”

“Well, I wanted to make sure that someone taught you how to shake.” Raphael prayed that his hands weren’t too clammy. It wouldn’t do well for the New York clan leader to look nervous.

Luke didn’t bother to hide his shifting gaze. He brought his attention back to Raphael and nodded when he saw that they were truly alone. “You said this was about Simon. I expected that he’d be here too.”

“This is about Simon, but he can’t be here for our discussion.” Raphael tried not to fidget under Luke’s gaze. He had to admit, the werewolf could be intimidating when he wanted to be.

“What happened.” The words came out less as a question and more of a demand.

Raphael did his best to open his mouth and voice the reason why he asked for this meeting. But the words seemed to die on his tongue. He just stood there opening and closing his mouth.

“Raphael. What happened to Simon.” Again, not a question. Luke took a step forward, jolting Raphael into action.

“I wanted to ask you for permission to date Simon.” Raphael’s brain seemed to forget that he didn’t need to breathe as his chest rapidly rose and fell, his hands were definitely shaking, and he could not tear his eyes away from the shocked look on Luke’s face.

“You’re going to need to run that by me again. Because it just sounded like _you_ asked _me_ for permission to _date_ Simon.” Luke’s expression settled into skepticism.

Raphael resisted telling Luke that his reiteration was unnecessary. He chose to explain instead, “In my time, you asked a someone’s father for permission to date his child. I realize that this practice is outdated, but it was how I was raised. Since you’re Simon’s father figure, I wanted to ask you for permission. To date Simon.” He forced himself to hold eye contact while he explained. He wanted Luke to see his sincerity. He was a man of tradition and morals, and goddamn it he was leaving with Luke Garroway’s permission to take Simon Lewis on a date.

Luke was quiet for a while. Raphael was just about to start panicking when Luke asked, “Are you going to date him if I say no?”

“No, not until I received your permission.” Raphael would respect Luke’s decision. It would hurt, but he’d respect it. And keep asking Luke until he changed his mind. More silence followed while Luke watched every move Raphael made. “He would want your approval as much as I want your permission.” Things did not seem to be moving in Raphael’s favor. More silence followed as Luke seemed to consider Raphael.

“Have you really forgiven him for ‘betraying’ you?” Raphael winced at the question. He and Simon barely talked about it now that they had sorted everything out. Simon had begged his way back into the clan and proven he was sorry. Raphael tried not to welcome him back with open arms, just with a simple arm squeeze and whispered _welcome back, baby._

“Simon has proven that he’s sorry for what happened, and I have done my best to assure him that understand his actions.” His eyes stung at the thought of how much it had hurt. “I’ve forgiven him. I… I can’t lose him again. It hurt too much.”

Luke’s eyes softened at Raphael’s answer. He let out a long sigh before asking, “You would treat him right?”

“He deserves nothing but the best.”

“You would take care of him?”

“I will do everything I can to make sure he’s safe. I would lay down my life if I had to.”

“You would stay with him for all of eternity?”

“Even when the world ends, I will follow him into damnation.”

Luke’s mouth twitched into a smile, “Simon always says you can be dramatic.”

Raphael’s eyes widened, “He’s talks about me?”

“Constantly.” Luke crossed his arms with a thoughtful look, “I’ve known Simon for almost his entire life. I did my best to help out when his father died. He isn’t like a son to me, he _is_ my son.” Raphael waited with baited breath as Luke drew a breath. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I’ll ever like you. But Simon is absolutely smitten with you, and I trust him. He can act without thinking and get himself into some shit situations, but he’s a smart kid. You asking me for permission doesn’t hurt either.”

“So, are you giving me permission?” Raphael had given up on trying to conceal his nerves and hope. Honesty seemed to be the best way to win over Luke.

“Feel free to date him if he says yes. But,” Luke gripped Raphael’s shoulder and he fought the urge to shrug the man’s hand off, “if you hurt him even the slightest bit, we’re taking a trip to watch the sunrise. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand your threats. Now, if you don’t mind...” Raphael looked pointedly at Luke’s hand that still gripped his shoulder. He ignored the werewolf muttering Simon was right about the jackets.

“Alright, go get him. But remember what we talked about, Santiago.” Luke gave him a genuine smile before Raphael nodded and took off.

Raphael didn’t slow down until he reached the top of the stairs of the DuMort. He took a minute to straighten his jacket and hair before walking up to Simon’s door. His hand shook has he knocked, he had to do this before his confidence ran out. Simon’s voice granted entry from the other side of the door. He was sitting on his bed, guitar in hand when Raphael walked in.

“Hey Raph!” Simon smiled when he saw who came in. Raphael could feel himself starting to smile back. _Don’t get distracted, Santiago. You’re on a mission._

“Simon,” Raphael took a deep breath to calm down. _It’s now or never._ “I would like to go on a date with you.” He had imagined a lot of different scenarios for this situation. He hadn’t been counting on Simon to smile when he asked him.

“Yeah! That’d be awesome!” Simon’s smile was so big, so genuinely happy. Raphael couldn’t fight his own spreading across his lips. “I guess this explains Luke’s text.”

“The werewolf texted you that I was going to ask you on a date?” Of course Luke was going to give Simon a heads up. Raphael mentally kicked himself for thinking getting Luke's permission would be so easy.

Raphael's annoyance must have shown on his face. Simon started waving his hands and smiling nervously,“No, no! He just told me good luck, hope everything goes well with Raphael and I was confused until you came in here.”

“Oh.” Well now Raphael was just feeling embarrassed. And maybe getting emotional whiplash. 

Simon set his guitar down before continuing, “Can I ask you a question?” He waited for Raphael to nod before asking, “Why does he know?”

If Raphael could still blush, he would. He avoided Simon’s eyes as he answered, “I asked him for permission to date you.”

“You asked Luke for permission to date me?” Raphael nodded, Simon raised an eyebrow. “And he said yes?” Raphael nodded again. Simon stood up and wrapped his arms around Raphael. He wrapped his arms around the taller boy without even thinking. “You’re so old fashioned. It’s kind of adorable.” Raphael buried his face in Simon’s neck and mumbled for him to shut up while the other laughed. It felt good to be the reason why he was laughing. Almost as good as it felt to be held against the boy’s chest. Raphael would never admit it, but he had been dreaming of this moment. This feeling of being wrapped in someone’s arms and feeling them laugh filled him with butterflies. And if Simon pressed a kiss to the top of his head while laughing, who was Raphael to complain?  

 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I titled a piece in my short story class the same thing and I was told to change it because it referenced pop culture. So I made it a fanfic title. 
> 
> This was unbeta'd, only edited by me. All mistakes are mine and the editing was done while a cheeseburger was hanging out of my mouth.


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